1. Technical Field
This technology pertains generally to injury prevention systems and methods, and more particularly to systems and methods for prevention of, or minimizing the occurrence of, injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
2. Background Discussion
Injury to the knee, and specifically the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) within the knee, is one of the most common and debilitating sports related injuries. ACL injuries are an important clinical problem, and there is a need for more effective injury prevention approaches. ACL injury is reported as the most frequent and severe ligamentous injury to the knee. It has been estimated that between 80,000 and 250,000 ACL injuries occur annually within the United States. The annual cost to treat ACL injuries has been estimated at between one and two billion dollars. Women have a 2 to 10 times greater ACL injury incidence rate compared to men. Young athletes are especially vulnerable, with approximately 50% of ACL injuries occurring in the 15 to 25 year old population. Approximately 70-80 percent of ACL injuries are non-contact in nature and often the injury occurs during a movement that the person has performed many times before without incidence, suggesting an overuse injury mechanism.
The primary ACL injury prevention intervention strategy is to develop training programs that target specific factors that an athlete can modify to reduce ACL loading during movement (e.g. muscle strength, coordination and movement mechanics). The limitations of existing devices include: (1) inability to quantify a continuous force-deformation profile, many devices only measure displacement for a fixed force, (2) inability to ensure a relaxed muscle state, (3) inability to separate soft tissue deformation from actual bone displacement, (4) the potential for joint contact forces to contribute resistance to tibial translation, and (5) the weight of the limb segment and device applying a tibial shear force.
An object of the present disclosure is a knee arthrometer that overcomes one or more of the above-described limitations.